Alabama began cracking down on illegal immigration. As a result, many Hispanic students vanished from Alabama public schools. Hispanic parents kept their kids at home in fear of attracting attention from authorities. Huntsville school district’s superintendent went on a local television show to try to calm parents down. “In the case of this law, our students do not have anything to fear,” Casey Wardynski said in halting Spanish. He urged families to send students to class and explained that the state is only trying to compile statistics. More than 200 students were absent after the court’s ruling.

Authorities can, now, question anyone suspecting of being in the United States illegally. The Obama administration filed court documents Friday announcing its plans to appeal the ruling that upheld the law.

The first word that came to mind was “xenophobia”. This country was founded upon immigration. This seems like self-hate to me. Why do foreigners incite so much fear? Historically, our economy could not have been so successful if it wasn’t for immigration. Opportunity and freedom are what makes our country so strong!